


Save Yourself (Let Us Help)

by RomancebyFaye



Series: Romancebyfaye Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Domestic Violence, Established James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Healing, Leaving abusive relationship, M/M, Multi, Past Tony Stark/Tiberius Stone, Physical Abuse, Polyamory, Pre-James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark/Sam Wilson, Tiberius Stone is abusive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23955241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomancebyFaye/pseuds/RomancebyFaye
Summary: Sam and Bucky are rudely awakened in the wee hours of the morning by another one of Steve’s drunken visits. He's probably looking to crash on their couch...Only, the person currently buzzing their apartment incessantly isn’t Steve at all.But that doesn’t mean Tony Stark isn’t in need of shelter.Card Number: 3092 (Tony Stark Bingo 2020)Square Filled: R1 Abuse (Tony Stark Bingo 2020)Square Filled: G2 “Oh no, I’m into that.” (Marvel Polyship Bingo 2020)Ship/Main Pairing: James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark/Sam WilsonRating: Mature (First Chapter)Major Tags: Abuse, Physical Abuse, Abusive Relationship, Domestic Abuse
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark/Sam Wilson
Series: Romancebyfaye Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665991
Comments: 12
Kudos: 135
Collections: Marvel Polyship Bingo 2020, Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	Save Yourself (Let Us Help)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing this pairing! Be warned, this fic shows Tony suffering from physical and emotional abuse. Not from our main pairing, of course, but it might be disturbing to some people.

The incessant noise of the apartment buzzer wakes Bucky up. Next to him Sam groans before rolling over and covering his head with his pillow. A muffled, "It's your turn to deal with drunk Steve," is all he gets before Sam settles into ignoring him.

With a sigh and a grumbled, "Yeah, yeah," Bucky climbs out of bed. He glances at his prosthetic where it rests in the armchair next to his side of the bed. He shakes his head; Steve has seen him without it almost as much as Sam has.

The buzzing continues. Bucky growls and stomps to answer , growling "Keep your shirt on, Stevie, you drunk bastard."

Only…

"That's not Stevie," Bucky says to no one in particular, since his worthless boyfriend abandoned him to deal with drunk Steve. Which brings him back to Not Steve who is still buzzing intermittently while looking over his shoulder.

Bucky activates the intercom and says, perhaps a bit heated, "I think you got the wrong apartment, pal."

The person hanging on their buzzer like he's getting paid for it jumps a bit and whips back around, offering Bucky a stellar view of their face.

There's a shiner in its first blooms covering his right eye, a matching bruise is coming in on his jaw, and Bucky is pretty sure his bottom lip is busted. The high definition camera that Natasha installed (probably illigally) offers the red rimmed eyes and quivering lip up for intense viewing.

The voice matches the quivering lip as the man asks, "Um, is Natasha there? Does she not live here anymore?"

Bucky is about to answer that no, she doesn't because she moved out a few weeks ago, but he only gets as far as "No she-" before he's almost bowled over by Sam as he shoves into Bucky's space, pressing down on the speaker and asking, "Tony? Is that you?"

The look that comes over Sam's face as he takes in the state of Not Steve, who is apparently named Tony, sets Bucky on edge even more than the injuries had when Bucky saw them. At the sound of Sam's voice, Tony is awash in visible relief, and he starts jabbering a mile a minute.

"Oh god, Sam. Thank god, I-I didn't, I couldn't go… Rhodey's on tour right now, and I didn't want Mama Rhodey to see me like this and Natasha said- but she doesn't live here now…" He takes a deep breath and Sam is already barrelling out the door so he misses the little sob Tony let's out when he says, "Fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't know where else to go."

"Hey," Bucky says, voice soft, "don't worry about it. any friend of Natasha's is a friend of ours."

He continues watching as Tony steps back, allowing a better view of the rest of him and Bucky winces when he notices all Tony is wearing is a light cardigan meant as loungewear. He probably shouldn't be watching, since Tony has no idea he is, but Bucky has always had a bit of an issue taking care of people.

Everything he's seeing is activating his protective instinct and he's fairly certain when he gets a good view of Tony the man will be dressed completely inappropriately for the low temperatures the city is creeping into.

Soon, Tony looks up sharply and Bucky knows Sam has made it down. It's only a few more minutes before he's back in the apartment with Tony in tow, and all of Bucky's suspicions about not being dressed for the cold are made abundantly clear. 

In addition to the light cardigan, Tony's wearing what are obviously house shoes, even if they have a rubber sole. They are darkened where the slush and salt of the city has soaked into them. His pants are soft looking cotton, the bottoms faring the same as the soaked shoes where they have dragged the ground. And they have scientifically accurate diagrams of the solar system on them.

Bucky just stands there, watching as Sam walks Tony to the couch and sits him down, his eyes worried as they take the smaller man in. He turns, those same worried eyes searching out Bucky, though his words are for Tony. "I need to run back down and deal with the cabbie, but Buck will take care of you. Just sit tight."

And then Sam is gone, at least for a few minutes.

Tony looks tiny on their enormous, squishy couch, his head bowed down and his hands tucked firmly between his knees. His voice is just as small when he says, "Forgot my wallet." He lets out an awkward laugh and then goes silent.

For some god forsaken reason Bucky opens his mouth and words fall out. "Yeah, guess you left in a hurry, huh?" He immediately regrets it, what a stupid fucking thing to say to someone in this condition.

Tony laughs again, the sound all wrong, and then he makes a strangled choking sound before collapsing in on himself like a wet sandcastle, audibly sobbing.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Bucky says as he scrambles to fix this, his heart both breaking and trying to escape his chest. "I'm so sorry, what a shit thing to say! I'm an idiot, oh my god, I'm so sorry."

Tony just hiccups and wheezes, barely intelligible, making apologies of his own in repeat.

Bucky doesn't know what to do. Sure, he's taken care of people before, but they were usually very against the being taken care of, and now he's at a loss of what to do since he and Tony are pretty much strangers.

He's heard about him occasionally, when Jim and Nat are in town and they all manage to hang out together. Now that he’s looking at him, Bucky remembers he was introduced to him a few years ago at a new years party. Jim had been going around, dragging his 'idiot genius little brother' along to meet everyone.

He and Sam had just started dating back then, and Sam had noticed the look on Bucky's face when the whirlwind of dark eyes and adorable smiles had been swept to the next group. Thinking back, he even remembers Sam sly grin and question about whether he thought Tony might be interested in a date with them.

But Tony hadn't been around long enough for them to have a chance, having been monopolized by a very good looking blond who he later left with, tipsy and flushed and still smiling.

And now Bucky is feeling completely ashamed, having stuck his foot in his mouth not being enough. Apparently he also has to wander down memory lane in the most inappropriate direction he could maybe choose right now.

He snaps into action, grabbing a soft fleece blanket from the hall and continuing into the bedroom. He rifles through the drawers until he finds the comfiest, softest items of his and Sam's, though they are both going to be a bit big. He lays it all on the bed so he can wrestle the pile into his hold.Once he has it in his grip, he marches back to the living room to stand beside the ball of misery on their couch.

Aggressive caretaking is all Steve would ever tolerate back when he was a tiny ball of illness and rage, but he doubts stripping off Tony's clothes and forcing him into a burrito blanket is going to be a good idea, so he just stands there feeling completely useless while Tony sniffles and shivers.

*****

Sam opens the door to the apartment and walks in to find his boyfriend standing next to the couch with his arm full of what looks like every warm thing they owned and his eyes full of desperation.

On the couch is Tony, who is shaking and sniffling and looking like hell.

There are things Sam really needs to ask him, bad as he doesn’t want to. He sighs and goes to his boyfriend first, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder and giving a squeeze.

"Here babe, let me take that," he says as he relieves Bucky of his self imposed pile. "Could you go make some of your famous hot chocolate?"

Bucky nods and Sam is glad to see relief fill him with the prospect of a task he could focus on. Bucky hated feeling helpless or useless, and it would be easier to talk to Tony alone for the moment. Sam is close with Jim, who is basically Tony's big brother. At least Tony has met Sam enough to hopefully be comfortable with him.

He sits down on the couch, depositing the blanket and warm clothes next to him. He begins sorting through it to find something to replace Tony's soaked shoes and pants. 

"Hey, Tony," he nudges gently, "how about you get changed? I know you must be freezing."

Tony looks at him, shaking and tear stained and it makes Sam's heart lurch. He's careful to keep his expression neutral in fear of spooking Tony, but the other man seems nearly vacant now. Sam thinks it's probably the shock settling in.

After a moment's deliberation, Sam grabs the items he had chosen from Bucky's pile and stands, offering a hand to Tony. "Why don't we step into the extra bedroom and you can change there? It's still all made up, so you can stay in there tonight, no problem."

Sam was already imagining moving Tony in with him and Bucky. At least until Tony had time to make other arrangements. There was no way Tony was in any condition to go somewhere else tonight, unless it was the hospital, but Sam was pretty sure what the answer to that would be.

He still asks anyway, once he was in the bedroom with Tony and Tony was still shaking so badly he couldn't manage his clothing.

As he expected, Tony declines going to the hospital.

"Word would get out and it would cause issues for my company. Maybe that makes me a coward but, people...they depend on me. And Ty would- he would make it awful and public and humiliating.

"I just...I don't want to go through all that. Maybe I should be braver but…"

"Hey, no," Sam gentles, hating that he can't actually reassure Tony that none of those things would happen. "It's okay. It's your choice, I'm not going to judge you either way, all right?" 

He despises that Tony has been put through this and he feels the law would grant him no real recourse, but it's an ugly reality and not the first time Sam has witnessed the failing of the law to protect the vulnerable.

He drops the subject and continues to help Tony change his clothes. He has to grit his teeth as more bruises are revealed, in varying stages of healing, as Tony disrobes.

There was a worrying one across his ribs, about nine inches long and an inch or so wide. It was fresh like the ones on his face. Sam knew it would only get worse in the next few days.

"I fell," Tony whispered. At Sam's look, Tony clarifies, "When he- when he knocked me down, I landed on the coffee table."

And then his eyes go far away, and Sam hates it, hates to think of what Tony is seeing. He hates it more when Tony says, "He's never hit me in the face before, or anywhere it would show…

"I guess I really pissed him off this time."

Sam takes a deep breath. "Tony," he says gently, "you know, no matter how angry someone is, it is never a reason to resort to physical violence?"

There are more bruises on his legs and at the sight of handprints on Tony's hips, Sam feels a rush of nausea. He's not aware of making any sounds, but he must do something, because Tony hurriedly pulls up a pair of Bucky's pants, rolling them at the hips and hems. He's flushing now and he's still shaking when he says, "Those were consensual...some of the others are, too. That's why-"

And he stops, and then "He told me no one would believe me, because I liked it like that. That since I liked it rough, I shouldn't mind it so much."

Sam doesn't know what to say, he feels helpless and unmoored.

"That's complete bullshit," comes from the doorway in a voice that will accept no argument. Bucky is standing there, holding three mugs in a deathgrip by their handles.

It startles both Tony and Sam, and for a moment, Sam is afraid Tony will bolt or collapse or do something else terrible.

But he just looks at Bucky, standing in the doorway of the bedroom with crazy hair, sleep clothes, a scruffy face, a murderous expression, and a single arm currently extending three mugs in a steady and impressive grip.

And Tony says, like he's just witnessed a new truth for the first time, "Yeah...yeah, it is."

And Sam thinks,  _ 'He deserves someone better than that trash, someone who would be kind and gentle when he needs it, and rough when he wants it.' _

And then he thinks,  _ 'Me and Bucky could be that for him.' _

And _then_ he thinks, because it may be true, but right now it's totally inappropriate,  _ 'Oh no, I'm into that.' _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Tony has found a safe place to land! Now comes the healing and building of new relationships... Comments and kudos are always welcome!


End file.
